Power Ranger

MF: What do you do with all your free time now? Any hobbies or other aspirations?

MM: [Laughs] Well, I have two young kids, one 3 year old boy and a year old girl, and also a 19 year old boy that’s playing junior hockey.

MF: That’s Lyon, right?

MM: Yep, that’s Lyon. But I’ve been playing “Mr. Dad,” or as my younger son calls me, “Captain Daddy.” I still do a lot of charity work in the New York area with the Tomorrow Children Fund, the Mark Messier leadership camp, as well as a new project with Cold-Fx, launching in the United States.

MF: What exactly is Cold-Fx?

MM: One of the things I felt going through my career is that it became a challenge to stay healthy because of schedule, flying, weather, shaking hands, etc.—that’s when I came across cold-fx.com. It’s a great product: Olympic athletes can use it, it won’t show up in urine, and it’s just great to use from a health-standpoint.

MF: How do you stay in shape now that you aren’t on the ice anymore?

MM: It’s definitely been a challenge, having young kids and trying to carve out an hour or two a day to work out. You need to be disciplined in order to do it. I do cardio and weights at least three times a week, same as off season, waterskiing, a little basketball and tennis here and there. All the sports combined with cardio, basically.

MF: For all of us whose hockey experience doesn’t go past the Mighty Ducks movie franchise, what do you think the real rush of the sport is?

MM: As a player or as a fan?

MF: Both angles.

MM: From a player’s, it’s just an unbelievably fun game to play. Skating in itself is a tremendous form of exercise. It takes a lot of finesse and skill to play hockey, and when combined at its purest form, it’s a very dangerous but elegant sport if you can mix the two at same time.

From a fan’s perspective, the game serves itself so well live, I don’t know if there’s a better game live in the world to watch. I think it’s the sheer speed of it—the physical edge, the possibility of a fight breaking out—that’s something that isn’t allowed in any other sport.

MF: So your son Lyon is following in your footsteps—is there any friendly competition between you guys? Do you have to remind him who Dad is from time to time?

MM: Well, unfortunately that hasn’t happened enough, because for most of my career I’ve always busy. But he’s at a level now that after being retired, I don’t think I’d like to take him on, one-on-one.